The Tale of The Gutsy Chef
by KingKaze
Summary: Naruto has kept a very tasty secret from his friends. Rated T for the occasional "F" Bomb, just being safe!


**I do not own Naruto, but I do own old man Ezo and the Ezofuji restaurant and I'll have you know that its food has earned me soooooooo much Bit-coin.**

Konoha was bright eyed and bushy tailed that day, it seemed unusually busy. This was all due to Coalition Day, today marked the foundation of the Great Shinobi Coalition that brought all the nations together for the 4th Shinobi World War. Children played wistfully on the streets and Adults sat at open-aired cafés, talking the day away. This was not the case, however, with a one Haruno Sakura, she had been mildly irritated for most of the day, why you ask? Because she couldn't find the one teammate of hers that was usually very pronounced, Uzumaki Naruto. He had been gone quite frequently, actually, disappearing most of the day and then popping up around the evening with little to no energy to do anything.

She walked through the streets, keeping her eyes open and her face lighting up when she spotted Ino.

"Ino-Pig!"

"What's up, forehead?"

"Have you seen Naruto anywhere? He's been gone all day!"

"Why do you need him?"

"I…I uhhh…"

She paused and then blushed immensely, she tried to keep it a secret that he was going to take her to dinner. She had to come to a conclusion quickly!

"Training! He was supposed to train with me!"

"It's Coalition Day…the training grounds are closed.."

' _Shit, the one good idea I had was ruined!'_ thought inner-Sakura.

"Look, forehead, if you're going to lie? At least take into consideration what day it is. _Mendokuse._ "

Sakura paused and she could've sworn she heard a sqeaky toy noise in the background as Ino's face went pale. Sakura then grew a wicked grin.

"Care to run that last little bit by me again? Last time I checked, only a certain shadow user said that."

"I-I said nothing!"

"You've been spending an awful amount of time with Shikamaru-Kun, haven't you?"

"Like…like you have any room to talk, forehead! Why are you looking for Naruto so fervently?"

Sakura sighed and pouted, crossing her arms and looking away like a child. She had no choice but to tell Ino.

"I-he asked me to dinner tonight for Coalition Day."

Ino laughed as she finally got the great wall of Haruno Sakura to crack, it was going to be a glorious Coalition Day. She walked up to Sakura and put her hand on the pinkette's shoulder.

"I'll help you find him if you tell me what restaurant you guys are going to?"

"Ezofuji"

Ino face faulted, sighing all the way down. Ezofuji was a top of the line restaurant in Konoha, it was also the most expensive restaurant on the eastern half of the continent. She recovered and Sakura helped her up.

"Kami-Sama, Sakura! _Ezofuji!?_ Where the hell did he get money for that?"

"It turns out that since he's the son of the Yondaime and the last Namikaze, he gets everything Yondaime-Sama ever owned: House, heirlooms, Jutsu, money, which might I add, the bill from tonight won't even put a chip in his account."

Sakura hated to sound so much like a gold-digger, but it was all true. Uzumaki Naruto was _loaded!_ She gave another smirk at Ino.

"Where is Shikamaru taking you?"

"Shikamaru-Kun is taking her to Ezofuji!"

The two girls flipped around to see their respective dates walking towards them, both smiling widely. This was unusual, especially for Shikamaru, he was never caught beyond a smirk or maybe a grin. The male duo walked up to the two girls and Shikamaru stepped forward.

"Naruto apparently has special connections to old man Ezo. So he asked me if I wanted to bring my date and we could make it double!"

Ino nearly face faulted again but was caught by Sakura this time, who helped her back up. The four then agreed to meet up at the restaurant at 7 o'clock, all of them super excited for their date. The time couldn't have gone by slower, but they had done their absolute best to dress for the occasion. Sakura had opted to wear a traditional 13 layer kimono, the haori was a blood red with golden sakura petals. Her hair was put up in a high bun with two chopsticks holding it in place and a few bangs were pulled to the side and held with two hair small hairclips. Naruto looked on in absolute disbelief, she was _beautiful._

Shikamaru was stunned and Naruto looked over only to see why. Ino had opted for a lighter, yet just as formal 6 layer kimono but her choice of top was a little more provocative with the top of the kimono so far down as to show some of her goods, she remained within modesty but barely. Her Kimono was a silk blue with a white Haori, and the back of the Haori had a black lotus in the middle. Her hair was still in the same style as it was earlier that day but her hair had been washed, conditioned, and she threw in a bit of shiner to give it a sort of ethereal glow.

As both of the boys were staring, so were the girls. The boys were wearing their formal kimonos, Naruto was wearing a black Kimono with a white Haori that had golden dragons embroidered on the back surrounding the Namikaze crest, which was a circle with 3 tomoe swirling into each other. Shikamaru had opted for an olive drab Kimono with a grey Haori with white trim but no significant markings. The 4 shinobi all nodded and began to make their way to the restaurant, along the way they had turned more than a few heads, especially with Naruto's Haori. This earned him more than a few curt nods and full on bows, the Namikaze family was highly respected for their fairness and noble deeds to the village, the other 3 looked on as Naruto returned some of the gestures with smiles and the wave of a hand. They eventually got to the restaurant and saw that absolutely no one was there.

"Naruto-Kun, please do not tell me that you decided to get us this dressed up for a restaurant that isn't even open!"

"Now now, Sakura chan, watch."

Naruto reached into a plant beside the entrance and produced a key, while he was doing so, the others had noticed a note on the door, it was addressed to Naruto…. _from old man Ezo:_

 _Gaki,_

 _Please for the love of Kami, clean up after you're done with your little soiree. I am going to cut your damn pay in half for a month if you leave a nasty kitchen again! Other than that, have fun, kid. Happy Coalition Day._

 _-Ezo._

The group was beyond confused at this point but before questions could be asked, the door was unlocked and they all filed their way in. Naruto read the note and laughed, going on about 'dumb old men' or something to the extent. They took their seats around a large booth where the chef would grill your food right in front of you, and the next thing Naruto did shocked all of them. He took off his Haori and top Kimono to reveal a chef's uniform underneath, he tied his hair back in a small ponytail and slipped on a white headband that read across " _Ezofuji"_ in black calligraphy. He snickered at their dumbfounded countenances and spoke up with a face-splitting grin.

"What can I get you guys started with?"

The three managed to scoop their jaws up and looked at Naruto while he waited for their orders. Sakura final broke the silence.

"N-Naruto-Kun, you…you're a…"

"Five-star chef? Yeah."

"How did you….what? why? When?"

"Whoa, slow down there, Sakura-Chan, I started cooking at about 14 during my training trip with Jiraya, he taught me how to make really good food even while in the wild. I showed my talents to Ezo-Jii and he hired me on the spot at about 17 years old, been cooking for him since!"

Ino had chimed in with a tone of pure wonder.

"How the fuck were you able to keep it a secret like that!?"

"well, normally he's very lenient with my schedule, you know? being a shinobi and all, but I had to pull extra hard shifts to convince him to let me do this, explaining my string of daily disappearances."

The group all nodded as they pieced it together, it did in fact make sense. They all looked up to him and then studied their menus. Ino set her menu down, looked at the other two, and they all stated their orders, Ino starting first.

"I'll have the Hirai Teriyaki with a side of the miso Tempura."

Sakura then spoke up.

"The Densetsu no Ushi special sounds interesting enough, I'll give that a try. Oh, and medium rare please."

Shikamaru then looked up to Naruto with a smirk on his face.

"Get me the Honou Tenshi Tsukimen with a side of the Kazemori sesame buns."

"You all got it!"

Naruto lit a match and tossed it forward towards the inside of the wood stove grill. He swigged back some Sake and weaved through multiple hand signs.

"Fuuton: Jubunna Toppa!"

The gust sprayed the alcohol at the flame and caught it in a precise stream aimed directly at the inside of the grill. The flame pushed outward and lit the wood, pushing the grill to get extremely hot, instantly. The trio clapped at this performance, generally impressed with the precision and display, they guessed part of the job included having to be flashy for customers. He threw all of the orders' required ingredients down on the cutting board, flipping and twirling various tools to flay, dice, chop, mince, and slice. The show was hypnotizing for the trio, it was fascinating to watch such grace being performed in a kitchen, they truly started to grasp why some had called chefs 'artists', cooking was truly an art at its core.

Naruto had laid out the respective pieces of meat onto the grill, he took the bottle of sake he had used earlier and poured some of it over the meat on the grill to create a vibrant torrent of flame. He sliced up the meat with two insanely sharp razors and poured the rest of the ingredients on, stirring them up with grace and finesse. He finished up all three orders at roughly the same and garnished the plates with a masterful touch, presenting them with their orders within a 20 minute frame. He cooked his meal quickly and then doused the grill to clean it off. He would be more thorough after, but he had a meal to enjoy with his friends.

He sat down with all of them, bringing a few bottles of fine sake with him, he poured their glasses and let Sakura pour his before they all shouted 'Kampai', knocking the bittersweet liquid back. It was a fine Coalition Day in Konoha, and Naruto had the opportunity to spend it with friends. Sakura couldn't help but wonder how legendary of a homemaker he was going to be, she thought about marrying him and making him a kept man but she shrugged it off, blushing. They were the only 4 with the knowledge of his talent and they intended to keep it that way. Ino chimed in as she took a bite of her food, eyes going wide.

"Naruto-Kun, this is absolutely phenomenal!"

The other two voiced their opinions with wild amounts of content.

"I concur! This Tsukimen is some of the best I've had since Ayame came back from that trip!"

"I didn't know that steak could be prepared like this, it's truly magical."

Naruto laughed and rubbed his head sheepishly as he turned red as a tomato.

"Oh come on now, I can only do so much compared to old man Ezo. Now please, enjoy!"

The trio nodded and the meal went on in peaceful silence. Eventually the sun went down and they all left the restaurant, Naruto locked the door and put the key back in the plant. They made their way to downtown, each one with their respective date in hand Konoha where the lanterns had lit up and people were flooding the streets. Little kids ran around with sparklers while firecrackers went off on the balconies above. Sakura had looked up to Naruto who had reverted back to the Kimono and Haori. She grinned and just soaked him up, tonight was a night of festivities and what better time to pull this off. ' _yosh! Here goes…'_ her inner-self thought.

"Hey, Naruto-Kun?"

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I really…"

She was interrupted by a firework and everyone turned their heads to the sky, a wave of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' was making its way through the crowd. Sakura steeled herself and tried again, still under the noise of fireworks and admiring crowds. She started shouting this time.

"I wanted to tell you that I really like you!"

"What!?"

"I really like you!"

"You gotta speak up, Sakura-Chan, these fireworks are super lou-mmpfh…"

He was interrupted by a pair of soft lips against his, Sakura had just said to hell with it and pulled Naruto into a kiss. He deepened it and they continued like that until they broke apart, not realizing that the entire surrounding area was staring at them, the girls were 'awwing' the young couple, and the boys were hooting and hollering. They had just witnessed their hero finding love, on Coalition Day no less! They blushed furiously and promptly left the area for some needed privacy. They made their way to the top of a small hill and Sakura turned around to give him another quick kiss before beginning.

"What I wanted to say, _baka,_ is that I really like you!"

"Really? I…I really like you too! But…Sakura-Chan, what brought this on?"

"For the longest time, I've liked you. You were always there for me and you still are! You're super handsome and you are one of the sweetest guys I have ever met. I can't keep denying my feelings for you, Naruto-Kun!"

"I…I uhh."

Naruto was at a loss for words, the girl of his dreams was spilling her heart out in front of him and he had no idea what to do! He finally spoke up.

"I don't know what really to say, I'm flattered and I return the feelings, Sakura-Chan."

She embraced him and buried her face into his chest, soaking up all the warmth he had. She could get used to this. She was lost in the moment, drawing circles on his bare chest with her index finger until she was awoken by a deep vibration in Naruto's chest…he was _purring…_ Sakura barely contained a squeal, that was the cutest thing she had ever heard from him. She looked up to him and got his attention.

"There is one thing I want you to do for me however, since we are a couple now."

"Anything."

"Come to my house and cook for me on the weekends?"

"Of course! Sakura-Chan."

"Oh, hey Naruto-Kun, that reminds me…"

"What is it?"

"Did you ever clean the kitchen before we left?"

Another squeaky toy noise made its way through the air as Naruto face-faulted. Sakura sighed and helped her newly appointed boyfriend up, they headed back towards the town to celebrate, his paycheck be damned. It was certainly a great Federation Day, great indeed.

 **Aaaaaaand another one-shot!, I hope y'all enjoyed "The Tale of The Gutsy Chef!" as much as I enjoyed writing it. Just some good ol' fashion NaruSaku fluff was all! just needed a bit of a break from "Will of Fox" and "Heart Sold Seperately" (I will be working more on Will of Fox but you can expect a casual update for the other every once in a while since it wasn't as reactive as WoF.) I was chugging along on a chapter of WoF when I got a good review from _DragonPony022_ and it totally changed my perspective as I had been suffering from writers block! So thank you, _DragonPony022_ Oh so graciously for that idea, and y'all can expect the new chapter within a couple of days! (as well as another HSS Update following that!) **

**So tell me what y'all think of this little doodle!**

 **Kaze, OUT!**

 **(AN: for the squeaky toy noise, just imagine that noise that was made when Himawari hit Naruto in the stomach with the chakra point attack in "The Day Naruto Became The Hokage" Special.)**


End file.
